How Nehru’s China policy is a key factor in the shielding of Masood Azhar

Much of the Indian post-colonial history circles around the failures of the Congress rule with Nehru at the helm of it since the very beginning of Independence era. Yet we have found him coming out every now and then from a dark corner of history, cherished in speeches and books written by people from the ones who knew him since his Cambridge days to the new Nehru-schooled millennial of today. In recent years, India has been fighting tooth and nail to gain permanent member seat in United Nation Security Council (UNSC), the only UN body resolutions of which are binding.

There was a time around 1953 when Jawaharlal Nehru “declined a United States offer” to India to “take the permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council” and suggested that it be given to China, stated Sashi Tharoor in his book Nehru — The Invention of India. Tharoor further wrote, Indian diplomats who have seen files swear that Nehru declined the offer about the same time as he turned down “with scorn” John Foster Dulles’ support for an Indian Monroe Doctrine.

In a gesture of good will, Jawaharlal Nehru gave up the permanent membership of the Security Council seat to the Chinese. The grave mistakes of our first PM are still haunting the country. India’s failure to gain the permanent seat has been mostly thwarted by China. Not only this, China has blocked several times the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under UNSC Committee. Pakistan is the breeding ground of terrorists, and the country is supported and sustained by China. China is the one actively aiding and abetting terrorism.

There are numerous instances of China blocking India’s way on the international podiums, whether it’s Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), permanent membership in the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) or using veto many-a-time against the issues of India’s interests. China’s blockage feat reached its height when it shielded Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief, from getting designated as a terrorist under the aegis of the UNSC 1267 resolution.

Azhar who roams freely in Pakistan, having China’s backing, has kept bleeding India on numerous occasions. On January 2, 2016, his group Jaish attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot leading to 7 soldiers losing their lives. India following the attack put forward a proposal in February in UNSC to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, but China vetoed it and foiled India’s bid to get Azhar designated.

Again in March and October of 2016, China repeated its exercise of veto on Azhar’s blocking and this was done at Pakistan’s behest. Further, on January 19, 2017, a proposal was put forward by the US, the UK, and France to designate Masood Azhar as a terrorist, which again was blocked by China employing a technical hold. India has been trying to get an international sanction on Masood Azhar since 2008-09 in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack but China has shielded him again and again. Again in Wuhan summit in April 2018, India and China agreed on a reset of the relationship regarding terrorism, but there has not been any headway in the Chinese roadblock to Azhar’s listing since then.

Nehru’s folly and the short-sightedness due to his obsessive fixation on the fairy-tale of Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) have resulted in major setbacks for India. Despite Nehru’s monologue of ‘Hindi Chini bhai bhai’ the bigoted nation betrayed India and went to war with it in 1962.

Among many other critical shreds of evidences now available to the public, a report published in 1963 by Lt General T.B. Henderson-Brooks and Brigadier P.S. Bhagat asserts that the loss to China was the diplomatic and strategic follies of Jawaharlal Nehru and his defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon. More ever, the biggest collateral damage that nation has suffered is the Nehru’s failure of leadership during the 1962 Sino-Indian war that resulted in an uncontained imperialist China assuming that Arunachal Pradesh is a disputed territory even now and not an integral part of India.

According to a paper published by CIA in 1963, Chinese President Liao Shao Chi in his discussions with the Swedish ambassador, stated, “The attack had taught India a lesson and that for future Nehru and the Indians must be taught that they cannot change the border status quo by force.” As per CIA report, “Chinese diplomats were tasked to play up through the Indian communists that Nehru was pro US. He is Kennedy’s lawyer, a Chinese diplomat told a senior Indian communist.”

The papers further disclose that Jawaharlal Nehru even resorted to part away with Aksai Chin, in exchange for the ownership of Arunachal Pradesh. “For a while in fall (autumn) 1959 Nehru seemed to be preparing the Indian public for cession of the Aksai Plain (Aksai Chin) to the Chinese in exchange for Indian ownership of the NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh), but this view was opposed by some leaders in the Congress party,” stated the report.

The grave mistakes of our first Prime Minister are still haunting the country. Jawaharlal Nehru demeaned the foreign policy of India and projected the nation as incapable of defending itself. However, coming back to the blacklisting of JeM chief, India is making a logical demand as JeM has already been designated as a terrorist organization. In fact, this has been one of the major issues on the agenda with China during bilateral talks at various levels.